FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons have hired Mayur Chaudhari as a special teams assistant, Bernie Parmalee as the running backs coach, and Chad Walker as an offensive assistant.

“We are excited to be able to add Mayur, Bernie, and Chad to our coaching staff,” said head coach Dan Quinn. “The three men bring a lot of experience to our staff, in addition to being very knowledgeable in our schemes. With the addition of Gregg Knapp earlier, our coaching staff is taking shape as we prepare for the Combine and free agency.”

Chaudhari brings 20 years of coaching experience to the Falcons. He was most recently the special teams coordinator for the University of Hawaii for the past two seasons (2016-17). The San Jose, CA native coached Indianapolis Colts punter Rigoberto Sanchez at Hawaii in 2016, where he punted 70 times for an average of 44.6 yards per punt. In the summer of 2015, Chaudhari spent time with the Falcons participating in the Bill Walsh Minority Coaching Fellowship.

Parmalee joins the Falcons after spending three years with the Oakland Raiders as their running backs coach (2015-17). During his three seasons with the Raiders, the team averaged 4.20 yards per carry, and tallied 4,933 rushing yards with 37 touchdowns. In 2015, he coached Latavius Murray who crossed the 1,000-yard mark for the first time in his career. Before joining the Raiders coaching staff, he spent time with the Kansas City Chiefs (2010-2012), Notre Dame (2005-09), and the Miami Dolphins (2002-04).

Walker returns for his third season with the Falcons after spending last year with the Arkansas Razorbacks. Walker coached the Razorbacks outside linebackers in 2017 after spending 2016 as the Falcons assistant linebackers coach. Walker spent two years as a quality control assistant at the University of Oklahoma. Prior to joining the Sooners staff, Walker spent two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Mississippi College.

University of North Georgia sophomore softball player Kylee Smith keeps gaining weekly accolades as she was named the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division II National Pitcher of the Week as announced by the association Wednesday afternoon.

In this week's edition of the Hard Left Turn podcast, Around the Track editor Brandon Reed and Game On's Katie B. discuss this year's pole sitter for the Daytona 500 (and the possible conspiracy theory therein), the Advance Auto Parts Clash and whether or not - with just 40 cards entered into Sunday's race - Thursday's field-setting Duels are necessary.